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I’m getting a camcorder

Audio podcasting is great. Video is even better. So, I’m taking the plunge into video podcasting, and have spent a week or so researching camcorders. There are a baffling amount of options and features available, especially for newbies like me.

CamcorderInfo was an enormous help, written by enthusiasts and pros, their reviews are detailed and informative, with a highly useful comparison. Their sister site, EasyCamcorders has advice and a buying guide. Among their advice

-Low light performance is crucial, and by that they mean indoors too.
-Stills won’t be as good as from a digital still camera
-A 3 CCD model is way better than the standard 1 CCD
-Mic-in and headphone jacks can really help with audio
-Ignore digital zoom, it’s useless. Optical zoom is what’s important.

Plus, from what I can tell, mini-DV camcorders record at higher quality than DVD or Flash.

Given all that, I’m getting the Panasonic PV-GS500, 3 CCD, mini-DV, good in low light, with lots of tweakable features, and used Froogle to price it and check customer satisfaction ratings with the online stores.

After I learn how to use the camcorder and edit the results, Polizeros will start videocasting!